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Photocatalytic CO2 reduction into hydrocarbon fuels is one of the most efficient processes since it serves as a renewable energy source while also lowering atmospheric CO2 levels. The development of appropriate materials and technology to attain greater yield in CO2 photoreduction is one of the key issues facing the 21st century. This study successfully fabricated novel ternary reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/Au-TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTAs) photocatalysts to promote CO2 photoreduction to CH4. Visible light-responsive RGO/Au-TNTAs composite was synthesized by facile electrochemical deposition of Au nanoparticles (NPs) and immersion of RGO nanosheets onto TNTAs. The synthesized composite has been thoroughly investigated by FESEM, HR-TEM, XRD, XPS, FT-IR, UV-Vis DRS, and PL analyzer to explain structural and functional performance. Under the source of visible light, the maximum yield of CH4 was attained at 35.13 ppm/cm2 for the RGO/Au-TNTAs composite photocatalyst after 4 h, which was considerably higher by a wide margin than that of pure TNTAs, Au-TNTAs and RGO-TNTAs. The CO2 photoreduction of the RGO/Au-TNTAs composite has been improved due to the combined effects of Au NPs and RGO. Due to its surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) mechanism, Au NPs play a crucial role in the absorption of visible light. Additionally, the middle RGO layers serve as effective electron transporters, facilitating better separation of electron-hole pairs. The newly constructed composite would be a promising photocatalyst for future photocatalytic applications in other fields.

Fruit orchards are frequently irrigated with brackish water. Irrigation with poor quality water is also a major cause of salt accumulation in soil. An excess of salts results in stunted growth, poor yield, inferior quality and low nutritional properties. Melatonin is a low molecular weight protein that shows multifunctional, regulatory and pleiotropic behavior in the plant kingdom. Recently, its discovery brought a great revolution in sustainable fruit production under salinity-induced environments. Melatonin contributed to enhanced tolerance in Zizyphus fruit species by improving the plant defense system’s potential to cope with the adverse effects of salinity. The supplemental application of melatonin has improved the generation of antioxidant assays and osmolytes involved in the scavenging of toxic ROS. The tolerance level of the germplasm is chiefly based on the activation of the defense system against the adverse effects of salinity. The current study explored the contribution of melatonin against salinity stress and provides information regarding which biochemical mechanism can be effective and utilized for the development of salt-tolerant germplasm in Zizyphus.

Herein, we reported a unique photo device consisting of monolayer graphene and a few-layer rhenium diselenide (ReSe 2 ) heterojunction. The prepared Gr/ReSe 2 -HS demonstrated an excellent mobility of 380 cm 2 /Vs, current on/off ratio ~ 10 4 , photoresponsivity (R ~ 74 AW -1 @ 82 mW cm -2 ), detectivity (D * ~ 1.25 × 10 11 Jones), external quantum efficiency (EQE ~ 173%) and rapid photoresponse (rise/fall time ~ 75/3 µs) significantly higher to an individual ReSe 2 device (mobility = 36 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , Ion/Ioff ratio = 1.4 × 10 5 -1.8 × 10 5 , R = 11.2 AW -1 , D* = 1.02 × 10 10 , EQE ~ 26.1%, rise/fall time = 2.37/5.03 s). Additionally, gate-bias dependent Schottky barrier height (SBH) estimation for individual ReSe 2 (45 meV at V bg = 40 V) and Gr/ReSe 2 -HS (9.02 meV at V bg = 40 V) revealed a low value for the heterostructure, confirming dry transfer technique to be successful in fabricating an interfacial defects-free junction. In addition, HS is fully capable to demonstrate an excellent gas sensing response with rapid response/recovery time (39/126 s for NO 2 at 200 ppb) and is operational at room temperature (26.85 °C). The proposed Gr/ReSe 2 -HS is capable of demonstrating excellent electro-optical, as well as gas sensing, performance simultaneously and, therefore, can be used as a building block to fabricate next-generation photodetectors and gas sensors.

In this work, a novel low-temperature double solvent sol-gel method was used to fabricate (Sm, Ce, Gd) and (Sn, Se, I) co-doped at Bi and Te-sites, respectively, for Bi 2 Te 3 nanostructures. The phase-purity and high crystallinity of as-synthesized nanostructures were confirmed using X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The nanopowders were hot-pressed by spark plasma sintering into bulk pellets for thermoelectric properties. The spark plasma sintering temperature significantly affects the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity of bulk Bi 2 T e3 pellets. The electrical conductivities of co-doped samples decrease with an increase in the temperature, but conversely, the Seebeck coefficient is linearly increasing. The power factor showed that the co-dopants enhanced the thermoelectric properties of Bi 2 Te 3 nanopowders.